M
mdzialo1
Guest
nytimes.com/2005/12/20/international/middleeast/20marines.html
This is an interesting case study and very sad, since one half of IED’s are discovered only when they blow us up. I’ve often wondered if the locals are merely victims or do they know what’s up. Unfortunately, it looks like they are tipped off and are guilty as sin:
“They planned this maybe for months,” he said. “Scoped our convoy out and saw typically where do the females sit. Maybe they had someone watching and they called on the cellphone.”
…Falluja should have been bustling on a Thursday evening in summertime. But the streets had been deserted for much of the day, which the American military had learned could be a signal that residents had been tipped off to an impending attack.
"I even told my buddy, ‘Something bad is going to happen today,’ " Corporal Saalman said. "
Another couple of interesting factoids from this article: The Marines have been sent back to relieve fatigued Army units. The Marines account for one sixth of our troops but experience one third of our casualties.
Out of our 20,000 plus casualties so far (dead and crippled for life), what percentage have been the victim of IED’s and suicide bombs, I wonder? How large that figure is can tell us a lot about how the war is going, because the locals really aren’t just smiling Muslims taking votes, but they are knowingly complicit in the civil war, too.
This is an interesting case study and very sad, since one half of IED’s are discovered only when they blow us up. I’ve often wondered if the locals are merely victims or do they know what’s up. Unfortunately, it looks like they are tipped off and are guilty as sin:
“They planned this maybe for months,” he said. “Scoped our convoy out and saw typically where do the females sit. Maybe they had someone watching and they called on the cellphone.”
…Falluja should have been bustling on a Thursday evening in summertime. But the streets had been deserted for much of the day, which the American military had learned could be a signal that residents had been tipped off to an impending attack.
"I even told my buddy, ‘Something bad is going to happen today,’ " Corporal Saalman said. "
Another couple of interesting factoids from this article: The Marines have been sent back to relieve fatigued Army units. The Marines account for one sixth of our troops but experience one third of our casualties.
Out of our 20,000 plus casualties so far (dead and crippled for life), what percentage have been the victim of IED’s and suicide bombs, I wonder? How large that figure is can tell us a lot about how the war is going, because the locals really aren’t just smiling Muslims taking votes, but they are knowingly complicit in the civil war, too.
